[tcary]

does anyone else think that A level physics is a complete let down,
i love physics but im infuriated with the course, i wish there was more mathematics involved we dont even use calculus!

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by tcary

does anyone else think that A level physics is a complete let down,
i love physics but im infuriated with the course, i wish there was more mathematics involved we dont even use calculus!

It's been designed to only presume knowledge up to GCSE mathematics . It is a complete let down tbh.

[Daniel Freedman]

Originally Posted by tcary

does anyone else think that A level physics is a complete let down,
i love physics but im infuriated with the course, i wish there was more mathematics involved we dont even use calculus!

Yeah, but the lessons are made infinitely better by the guy you sit next to.

[laura_beth]

i havent enjoyed it that much, but its more to do with the fact that our teacher is utterly useless and basically says 'make notes from the text book'
then leaves for ages, only returning i presume to assure were all there...
i do wish there was more maths involved though

[tcary]

Originally Posted by John Locke

It's been designed to only presume knowledge up to GCSE mathematics . It is a complete let down tbh.

apparantly its made to be a universal subject, however, the people at my school doing physics without a good grounding in maths still struggle. mathematics and physics are intwined, maths allows the physics to make sense!

[xobile]

I'm not a big fan of A level physics -yet. I'm doing the stupid Advancing Physics course, which is all about applying physics to the real world, which is great but its a bit too slow. I signed up for this course because I want to know how the universe works and abotu the laws that underpin EVERYTHING, and I'm not getting that by learning about the difference between a composite material and a ceramic material.

[jj11]

so far i understand all the physics involved and maths.

[QuantumTheory]

I love the Advancing Physics course... Just wait 'till you get to next term. It all gets a lot more spooky :p

There's a girl in my A2 class who can't rearrange ab=c, and yet she's predicted a C xD
Stick with it, it does get better, I promise

[carrotboy]

i don't really think its that bad. usually people who do physics do mathematics as well, and that is enough as far as i'm concerned. maybe the link between the two subjects should come at university because physics can be used in a variety of subjects, with different types of maths for those subjects

[Mr Nonsense]

Originally Posted by xobile

I signed up for this course because I want to know how the universe works and abotu the laws that underpin EVERYTHING, and I'm not getting that by learning about the difference between a composite material and a ceramic material.

well put!
we are doing aqa a which is the alternative one i think.... a bit more 'real' physics, but still quite watered down

[Marcian0]

Am doing physics and maths at A levels
Find Physics absolutely boring and hardly understand anything.
Think this is because they just rush through it and give extra time.
Got two teachers ones who has appeared on robot wars-hes quite OK
The others a maniac... like another student

[laura_beth]

Originally Posted by Marcian0

Am doing physics and maths at A levels
Find Physics absolutely boring and hardly understand anything.
Think this is because they just rush through it and give extra time.

completely agree, feel exactly the same, its horrible.

[equinox3o0o]

you only learn calculus if you do maths, for someone who doesnt do maths they would find physics hard if it had questions on differentiation and integration dont you think, its not compulsory that if you do maths you also have to do physics otherwise they would have calculus included etc

[abstraction98]

Its the same up here in scotland.

Physical law is defined by mathematics. In fact, physics IS in many ways, mathematics (with reason).

The sooner the government start to realize this, rather than adopting the one size fits all policy, the better.

[LearningMath]

It seems so woolly to be honest, the opposite of how physics should be. Its not like maths, i.e. learning skills and applying, and its not remembering stuff, the exam questions just seem so random and sporadic. I'm disappointed...

[Jooeee]

I dunno who would really take physics without maths anyways, so why the physics course then has nothing past GCSE maths i don't know.

[tazarooni89]

It's not that much fun - it's far too qualitative, considering that it's Physics. And you're supposed to just accept the formulae given to you. No proofs or anything. My Physics teacher couldn't even integrate e^x

Then again, I can't really see what can be done about this. They have to make it such that people who aren't doing A-Level Maths can still do Physics...

[spex]

If you're hungry for more meat on the bones in the mechanics unit, you should try doing the mechanics maths modules. I'm on M3 and it's a barrel o laughs. M4 after this yippee.

Can't really help you with the other units. Just go to uni and they'll sort you right out.

[DaveJ]

It's cos people might find the maths too hard. And we wouldn't want any poor soul feeling like failures now, would we?

[equinox3o0o]

there are lots of different areas of physics (SHM, nuclear atom, electromagnetism) and thats why at alevel they only teach you basic concepts from each of the different areas which you then expand on if you decide to do physics at uni